ERP Software

Infor Joining The Cloud Team

Infor has announced plans for its applications running on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform and adding momentum to the industry's shift away from on-premises ERP software.

Their strategy will see the next-generation versions of Infor applications start appearing on Azure in 2011.

Azure applications will also employ Infor's recently announced ION framework for data sharing between applications and BPM (business process management), allowing them to work with infor’s legacy on-premises software.

Infor is also using Microsoft's SharePoint and Silverlight technologies to build out a new user interface called CompanyOn,  which will give its many application lines a common  look and feel. CompanyOn will be a central home for BI reports and dashboards,

Overall, the partnership has benefits for both vendors, said Altimeter Group analyst Ray Wang.

"It was a huge coup for Microsoft because it shows large ISVs [independent software vendors] are still willing to bet on the Microsoft platform. It's also good for customers, in that now people are on a standardized platform, and a platform that has a future. "

Those users will benefit from the vast pool of system integrators, ISVs and developers already working with Microsoft technologies, Wang said.

But the tie-up also raises questions for other Microsoft partners, such as Epicor, which has also embraced Redmond's stack and was an early adopter of Azure.

This might force the Microsoft Dynamics VAR ecosystem to think about using Azure to host the ERP solutions they are reselling.

Infor will sell the Azure applications in multitenant form; this approach saves on system resources and allows upgrades to be pushed out to many customers at once. But Infor will also run dedicated instances for companies that desire them.

SAP Loving Amazon's Elastic Cloud

 

SAP is streaming  their  emerging cloud  strategy across multiple development platforms, one of the platforms is called  "River," which is written to support lightweight extensions to its on-premises ERP software.
The first River-based application, Carbon Impact 5.0, is set to be released  next month and will be running on Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud.

River applications are meant to be light and easy to use  with only a few dozen screens. SAP has done "a significant amount of work" on River in areas such as data security and authentication, " River will be opened up to partners "over time," as well as other infrastructure services, he said. "The first [application] is on Amazon, but the platform is designed to run on multiple clouds. Over time it will run on multiple clouds including our own."
Meanwhile, more complex ERP cloud applications will be based on the platform behind Business ByDesign, SAP's mid market on-demand ERP,

Although SAP builds out a portfolio of on-demand applications, its embrace of the cloud goes only so far for now. "While only 11% of respondents think of cloud as a short-term fad, an additional 72% need more convincing,"
“Technology's just not at a point where you can run a mission-critical application on a public cloud," said SAP's CTO Vishal Sikka

Sage Moves Into Poland

UK ERP Software group Sage has launched a public tender offer to acquire Poland's Teta. for an  value of about £41m.

Teta provides enterprise resource planning software to medium  and large -sized companies. If the tender offer gets the goahead , Sage will become  the leading provider of business management software across Eastern Europe gaining a portfolio of 2000 customers across Poland and Hungary.

Teta’s  revenue for 2009 was £21m and EBIT £3m, with net assets of £22m.


CEO Paul Walker said the proposed acquisition complemented the group's existing business in Poland and would allow it to develop its offerings in the attractive Eastern European markets.

Netsuite Launches Manufacturing Software

NetSuite is targeting the manufacturing industry with an ERP edition aimed at discrete manufacturers.

Key functionality includes multi-site planning and management, material requirements planning, production management, engineering change control, shop floor control and work-in-progress management.

Pricing for the discrete manufacturing capabilities starts at US$2,499 per month for a companywide module. NetSuite pricing of $99 per user per month also applies.

Netsuite is working with Rootstock Software, Netsuite is providing the marketing muscle branding for rootstocks manufacturing software, Rootstock’s MRP offering was built in 18 months using NetSuite’s NS-BOS platform. It’s also integrated with NetSuite’s OneWorld SaaS ERP suite.

NetSuite is hoping to entice manufacturing companies looking to move off their legacy systems, which may be difficult or expensive to maintain. But will be facing stiff competition from mid market ERP vendors such as Epicor, Lawson Software and Microsoft Dynamics.

What will be interesting is too see how quick Netsuite can add other industry vertical functionality using partner expertise to deliver industry specific functionality.

Sage CEO To Stand Down

Paul Walker, the chief executive of Sage software is to stand down. Mr Walker has told the board he wants to leave while he is still young enough to pursue fresh challenges

The Sage board   has hired headhunting group Russell Reynolds Associates to search for a replacement for Paul  Walker, who is one of the FTSE 100’s longest serving bosses.

 “Paul Walker has advised the board of his intention to stand down from the company in due course, after 16 years as chief executive and 26 years with the company. Paul and board will work to ensure a seamless transition and the board will make further announcement at an appropriate time.”

Oracle Adds Healthcare Functionality

Oracle said Friday it will buy Phase Forward, a software solutions provider of applications for life sciences companies and healthcare providers, in a  deal worth around $685 million.

Oracle said the acquisition is consistent with its strategy to add complimentary assets to its Oracle Health Sciences division.

The company also predicts that Phase Forward's SaaS- based integrated clinical research suite which manages clinical development Phase 1 clinical trials through regulatory submission to post-approval monitoring, will help Oracle's life science customers more effectively capture, access, and share data securely.

"The life sciences and healthcare industries are converging as they seek to control costs while accelerating patient-centered innovation," Neil de Crescenzo, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Oracle Health Sciences said in a statement "Phase Forward brings outstanding products and employees with significant expertise to Oracle that will help enable the delivery of personalized medicine and value-based healthcare."

In a letter posted on Oracle's website, Crescenzo also said Phase Forward's management and employees will join Oracle as a part of the Oracle Health Sciences global business unit, ensuring the continuity of products and services delivery for Phase Forward customers. The transaction is expected to close in the mid-2010.

With that war chest, Phase Forward stated acquiring companies in related fields, shelling out $11m in 2005 for Lincoln Technologies, which created software to track drug safety after they have been approved for sale by government health regulators. In September 2008, Phase Forward ponied up $40m in cash to buy Clarix, a software company that had created a Web-based interactive response technology (IRT) application suite for clinical trials, which have been traditionally managed through phone calls, not Web-based forms.

Phase Forward has quite a track record on purchasing smaller software companies that are focussed around the web. Phase Forward paid $14m to acquire Waban Software, which sold a competing set of automation and compliance tools for clinical trials with statistical analysis add-ons. And in July, it paid $11m to buy Maaguzi, which sells a set of Web-based tools to do electronic patient reported outcomes paperwork.

The combined set of Phase Forward tools have been used in over 10,000 clinical trials with more than 1 million participants by more than 300 life sciences, pharma firms and regulatory agencies and public health organizations.

Oracle expects the Phase Forward acquisition to close around the middle of 2010.

 Oracle Newsroom

Larry Ellision thoughts on the cloud

Larry Ellison likes to keep his options open; personally he can’t stand the hype of cloud computing with some great quotes such as “more fashion-driven than women's fashion and cloud computing is simply the latest fashion”.

Then on Oracle’s fiscal third quarter earnings call, Larry focuses on fusion and how the architecture can be used for on premise or the cloud.

We think once we deliver Fusion, we’re going to be well-positioned to challenge for the number one slot. One of the important things about our Fusion applications is they are designed not simply to run on premise, which of course they do. But they’re all on-demand or if you prefer, cloud-ready. So we’ll be delivering those applications, both by selling the software directly — kind of the old way of doing it, which is still the most popular way, by the way. We’ll be selling the Fusion applications integrated with our hardware, our servers, and our storage and our networks. We’ll be selling it on the cloud, all modern service-orientated 21st century stuff.

Talk about keeping your options open Larry is right about cloud and the fashion industry though.

Lawson joins the cloud team

Lawson Software announced a partnership that will make its ERP  and other business applications available on Amazon Web Services' cloud-computing service.

Lawson's S3 Enterprise Management System, M3 Enterprise Management System and Talent Management application will be hosted on  Amazon's cloud for new Lawson customers.

Lawson is copying SAP business by design idea and offering prospects the option to test drive Lawson ERP software online for two weeks.

Pricing will stay the same the same as their on premise licence costs , Lawson stated that the company does not  "intend to use pricing on the cloud as a loss leader or to buy market share."

Lawson's cloud strategy is a sound one for the customers it targets, said Ray Wang, partner with the analyst firm Altimeter Group. "Honestly, these are companies that should focus on their business and let the infrastructure go to the lowest-cost provider," he said. "[Amazon] is one of the places."

Hitler discovers Cloud Computing

SAP CEO Leo Apotheker resigns

SAP chief executive Leo Apotheker has  resigned with immediate effect just seven months after taking over as sole chief executive.

SAP said late on Sunday it would return to split leadership with Bill McDermott, head of field organization and Jim Hagemann Snabe, head of product development, both already members of the SAP Executive Board, taking the helm.

The world's largest business-software company said the departure was by mutual consent and did not give a reason for the change at the top.

“When you look at SAP’s performance in 2009, it was really dismal, from a financial perspective,” said Phil Hamerman, an analyst with Forrester Research in Virginia. “I think the 2009 earnings call less than two weeks ago signaled the beginning of the end of Apotheker. Apotheker projected a persona that was defensive rather than a man of vision.”

SAP’s software license revenue fell 28 percent in 2009, after rising for years. Total revenue fell 8 percent to 10.67 billion euros ($14.6 billion). SAP needs to look outside the company for new ideas to revive growth, Hamerman said.

“I don’t necessarily think SAP insiders can turn the company around,” he said “The company could benefit from new blood at this point.”